Yesterday after her second (brief) nap, Cameron woke up crying with a 102 temperature. DH and I coddled her and gave her some Tylenol and put her down for a longer third nap. The biggest problem? She wouldn't eat.
I should have known something was off when she woke up and ate only 3 ounces instead of her normal 6. She did it again eating only two ounces after her morning nap. For some reason Cameron refusing her bottles frustrates me more than any other thing she does. I have no idea why that is. Whine for an hour? Fine, my ears might hurt but my frustration level stays moderately low. Take a short nap? Roll my eyes and tell her that she's going to get a fourth nap that day. But refuse to eat? It immediately increases my blood pressure.
I wonder if ultimately it all hearkens back to breastfeeding. It was a struggle to get Cameron to nurse consistently for many weeks. So all I could do was obsess about how much she was eating. Dropping over a pound off her birth weight didn't help either. So somehow eating became that trigger that would result in me passing her off to DH and walking out of the room if she refused to eat.
Up until we went to the doctor's earlier this afternoon I was convinced that it was teething. True, DH was sick last week and 102 is high for a teething fever but Cameron was still a happy baby in general. Plus there was a lot more drool than normal. Then I thought it might be her ears although she wasn't tugging at them too much. Regardless I took a day off from work and we went to the doctor's after a nice long morning nap. Turns out Miss Cameron has a very bad sore throat. Not strep but blisters are involved.
All we can do is give her Tylenol and Motrin. The doctor recommended Cameron stay out of school tomorrow. DH will be the taking the lead on that one while I head back to work. I thought ahead and even had the doctor write a note for daycare so if she was still a bit out of sorts we could have them give her pain relievers when she returns on Thursday.
Once I had a diagnosis I felt much better. My patience level has increased dramatically and I didn't try to fight Cameron when she refused another bottle. I am beating myself up a bit over being so stressed about her not eating. How about the rest of you? What are the things that really increase your stress level with your kids?
Hey, It's Okay
2 days ago
1 comment:
I was that way with Penny when I was BFing but I stopped obsessing once we starting seeing specialists for her failure to thrive - I did what they told me and left the rest up to her. And it works wonders! My current irritation is Ned's constant tantrums. I know it is his desire to exercise independence but that doesn't seem to help.
On the sore throat front you should put some ice crushed into her mesh feeder bag - she'll find that cooling/comforting. I also don't drink when I have a sore throat although that is when you shoul do so the most. See if she'll eat some watermelon for hydration. And try pedialyte if you haven't already.
If you start to feel constantly out of sorts/obsessing on her eating I would highly recommend you see a pediatric nutritionist - they work out of GI offices but you can make appointments directly.
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